Literary notes about Absinthe (AI summary)
In literature, absinthe frequently serves as a multifaceted symbol—part exotic indulgence, part artistic muse, and part agent of dissolution. Its presence often evokes an atmosphere of bohemian decadence and existential escape, as characters sip it in cafés or incorporate it into nocturnal rituals that blur the borders between inspiration and madness [1, 2, 3]. Writers also use its distinctive, almost otherworldly, green hue to underline themes of mystery and decay, endowing the drink with a power that both enchants and corrupts [4, 5]. Whether it functions as the quiet companion to solitary reflections or as the intoxicant that catalyzes reckless abandon and self-destruction, absinthe consistently emerges as a metaphor for the paradoxes of modern life and the artistic temperament [6, 7, 8]. In this way, the word transcends its literal meaning to become a literary shorthand for the allure and peril of living on the fringe of conventional society [9, 10].
- and I had drunk absinthe when I had gone over to Paris to see him.
— from The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham - I was seated in a café sipping some absinthe when a man asked me if I would execute a small commission for him.
— from The Albert Gate MysteryBeing Further Adventures of Reginald Brett, Barrister Detective by Louis Tracy - "I never tried one—I mean an absinthe drip," said I. The waiter brought it and poured the water slowly over the ice in the dripper.
— from The Voice of the City: Further Stories of the Four Million by O. Henry - The sandy depths, stirred by the swells, gave the blue sea a lighter shade, which attained, along the shore, an opalescent hue, like that of absinthe.
— from The Enemies of Women (Los enemigos de la mujer) by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez - A few green stones are found in Brazil and these may be of an absinthe-green or of a pistachio-green tint.
— from A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public by Frank Bertram Wade - she made reply, backing away from him suddenly, her absinthe-brightened eyes deriding him, her absinthe-sharpened laughter mocking him.
— from Cleek: the Man of the Forty Faces by Thomas W. Hanshew - It is of these three vapors, beer, brandy, and absinthe, that the lead of the soul is composed.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - In Paris, to know a man at all is to know where you can find him at the hour of the apéritif —what Baudelaire called L’heure sainte De l’absinthe .
— from The Ways of Men by Eliot Gregory - he replied, with the fervour of one really grateful, and with the expansive extravagance of a Marseillais keyed up with exceptionally bad absinthe.
— from Lords of the Housetops: Thirteen Cat Tales - The brandy-and-soda addictee expands externally, the absinthe drinker expands internally; the one drink strikes out, the other strikes in.
— from In the Track of the Trades The Account of a Fourteen Thousand Mile Yachting Cruise to the Hawaiis, Marquesas, Societies, Samoas and Fijis by Lewis R. (Lewis Ransome) Freeman
